Rjchard montgomery



. Six-"PME,S-

PATENT GFFICE.

v.ngrrlriaala MONTGOMERY, or-Nnw YORK, N. Y.

, j f{MPROV/,APPARATUS FOR Usme SUBMARINE GUNS.

' 'Y specification 'foi-lihgpart of' Leaer Patent No. 35,247, aad Mayas, 1862.

To all whomimay vconcern:l

Be it known that. I, RICHARD MONTGOMERY, 4 of the city, county, andlState of New York, have invented a certain new and useful device to be used in marine Warfare, lby vwhich I am enabled to 'dischargev shot, shell, or other projectile from the ship beneath the surface of the water,of.which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making part of this specification.

Figure 1 represents 'al portion of a ships side with my invention applied thereto; Fig. 2, a front view of the invention as seen from the hold of the ship; Fig..3, a vertical section through the longer axis, showing also a I like section of the 'plug by which the outer orifice of the tube is closed.

The nature of my invention consists inthe arrangement of a telescopic or adjustable sliding tube or cylinder attached to and penetrating the side of the ship or other vessel at a point below the surface of the water, so thatv a shot, shell, or other projectile may be discharged through it from a cannonor. other piece of ordnance within the ship or-other vessel.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe the sa'me in detail.

A in the accompanying drawings represents a portion of side of the vessel with the adjustable sliding cylinder B, and D the cannon.` The cvlinder B is shown as extending beyond the outer side of" the vessel in readiness for use; but the cannon D is withdrawn from the cylinder to more clearly illustrate my invention.

The adjustable sliding cylinder B is placed at any desired position in the vessel below the water-line, and where it passes through the sides of the ship or other vessel is made water-tight by means of a common packing or stuffing box securely attached to the side of the vessel. This tube or hollowT cylinder may be made' in several lengths, similar to a,

telescope, in order to be elongated and adjusted to different distances, as the case may require, or in one single cylinder, and slide back and forth through the sides of the vessel, as shown in the drawings. Ordinarilythat is, when not prepared for action-the cylinder will be withdrawn within the side of the vessel and plugged, as seen at a, Fig. 3, exposing only the outer end, which will be flush or nearly so with the sides, and being rendered water-tight by the plug and packingbox will offer neither impediment to the action or motion of the vesselnor cause leakage into the. hold. The canon- D is placed upon a common ships carriage `and rolls back and forth on ways or guides in the usual manner. When the cylinder is placed in position for action and the moment arrives for discharging the piece through it, the cutolf valve E being previously raised, as seen in Fig, 2, the cannon is run forward and, 'entering the tube as far as may be necessary, is discharged. At the discharge the plug ain the outer end of the cylinder is blown out and the ball or .shell leaving the cylinder is projected against the object at which it is directed with as much certainty asl though it passed through the open air only.

The cylinder Bis supposed to'be extended so as to be in contact, or nearly so, with the object at which the cannon is to be discharged. Other equivalent methods for excluding water from the cylinder B may be employed-'such as india-rubber or other flexible sabots or plugs inserted at the inner end and forced to the outer extreme by means of a ramrod. This sabot or plug would, like the one previously described, be ejected, of course, on the discharge of the piece. The end view, Fig. 2, shows the valve E as raised, exposing the mouth of the cylinder into which the anterior part of the cannon is inserted before being discharged. This Valve is represented as if operated by hand, but may be worked by mechanism if preferred. The recoil from the discharge throws the cannon back, withdrawing it entirely from the cylinder, when the Valve falls, immediately shutting off eifectuallythe Water exterior to the vessel,

Having th us fully described my new method or invention for discharging ordnance beneath the surface of water, what l claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s`

A cylinder or tube extensible telescopieally Or by analogous means to be kept free of water by means of a plug or analogous device as a conducting-pipe for the transmission of shot or shell under water.

RICHARD MONTGOMERY. lVitnesses:

H. KING, GILBERT B. TowLEs. 

